RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesThe Los Angeles Rams brought in Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson to help shore up a weak part of their roster, dramatically improving the outlook at cornerback . But their impact on the defense will go beyond solely what they do on the field. They’re both Super Bowl champions from their time with the Kansas City Chiefs and know what it takes to reach the mountaintop.
McDuffie and Watson are rooming with Quentin Lake at training camp , bringing them even closer as teammates in Los Angeles. Lake, a team captain, has picked the brains of the Rams’ newest cornerbacks and tried to find what McDuffie and Watson can bring to the defense that helped them in Kansas City.
Every team has hand signals, but it was a big emphasis for the Chiefs, which has now permeated throughout the Rams defense. Lake shared how he, McDuffie and Watson came up with new hand signals in their dorm at LMU this week, which the entire defense is now doing in practice.
“We talked last night,” Lake said. “It was me, Trent and J-Wat because we're three roommates. And I was like, 'What was something that you guys did (in Kansas City)?' And they were like, 'We came up with hand signals for all our calls.' And I'm like, 'Man, that's a good idea.' Like, it's not that we don't do it, but they had an emphasis on it. I was like, 'Hey, if you guys want to do it, let's do it.’ So today, we ended up coming up with some stuff and we were just repping it and repping it and repping it because it's how can you take that next step as a group, you know? They're two guys that came in, and they were like, 'Man, this is what we did. This is what was successful.' I'm like, 'Okay, I can use that and I can share it with everybody else.' And I'm looking out on the field and everybody's doing it, you know. (Nate) Landman's doing it. Kam Curl's doing it. I'm doing it. J-Wat's doing it. Trent's doing it. We're just trying to take our game to the next level so it was good.”
McDuffie and Watson won two Super Bowls together and will try to win a third with the Rams this year. Lake is the perfect player for them to room with at training camp, being the leader of the defense.
Lake is also someone who loves to find ways to get better and gather insight from all different areas. So he asked both of his new running mates in the secondary what things were like in Kansas City, gaining perspective from those championship-caliber teams.
“Great roommates, and I really, really got an appreciation of how much they love ball,” Lake said. “For two guys that won the Super Bowl twice, went three times and won twice, how much hunger they have and want to get back to that level is like, man, it inspires me. And to be able to talk to them about, 'What was it like at KC? How was Pat (Mahomes) in practice? What were you guys doing? What was different?' I just love perspective, anybody's perspective. I just love perspective and they've been giving me great, great perspective. They've been giving me a couple of stories about what practice was like at KC, different stuff like that. Some good, some bad, but it's great just to understand that perspective and I just love how much they love ball. They love football. And you can tell whether it's on the field or in the meeting room how much they love it too because they're always asking questions.”
There’s no denying the talent McDuffie and Watson bring to the defense, but their intelligence and perspective from their time in Kansas City is an invaluable part of the equation. And after just a few practices, they’ve already left their mark with hand signals that improve the overall communication and cohesion of the team.
With McDuffie, Watson, Lake and Kam Curl all operating as leaders in the secondary, the Rams are bound to make big strides on defense in 2026.
This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: How the Rams' new CBs are already putting their stamp on the defense
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